[AshleyO]

Originally Posted by Pineapple_Juice

It's not that I'm not happy for him, I am. Going to church and the whole believing in God thing has made a huge positive change in his personality and his outlook on life. I try to be supportive and I've never said anything bad about Christianity or anything like that. When he asks me to go to church I go and I smile and I sing the songs and I bow my head when necessary.

Isn't that cute?

However, I'm seeing this slow shift in his mentality that's kind of sickening. Whenever someone asks him a question that might cause him to think about his religion in a negative way, he brushes it off and says "I don't have the answers, only God has the answers"-that sort of thing. This Sunday he told me that he refuses to try to understand, hear, see, or otherwise deal with anything in life that doesn't praise God in the way that his bible tells him to. He has NEVER been that way. He has always been open-minded and respectful of other peoples' wishes and it makes me really sad that this freaky cult mentality is already growing on him.

It matters to your dad. It makes him happy. Support it like a good daughter.

Even my nail polish color is under scrutiny by him now. He's never had any problems with my fashion choices or the color of my hair, but now he sees blue nail polish and smiles a knowing smile and asks me why I hate myself so much that I need "freaky" blue polish to cover up what God's given me.

Blue nail polish? Maybe he has a good point.

We went to my uncle's church yesterday and the pastor said, verbatim "If you are gay, lesbian, a 'whoremonger', an adulterer, or a sex-before-marriager, you are going to burn in hell for eternity and that's that."

Yeah. That's the gospel. You got a problem with that? Deal with it.

Honestly, I was surprised. This is a Calvary Chapel and I've been to several for friends and family and I've never heard ANYONE say that kind of stuff before. All through the sermon my grandmother sat there with tears in her eyes looking at my dad because she was so happy to see HIM finally happy, and when they said that BS about sex before marriage she just sat there and said nothing while my father nodded his head eagerly. My grandfather was sitting right next to my dad as well.

This stuff is important! RESPECT IT! SERIOUSLY. I don't see what the problem is here. It's clearly right there in their texts... right? I mean. Do you have a guilty conscience? Been having sex before getting married?

I thought about screaming "Fuck you" and walking out, but I shut my mouth because I didn't want to make waves with my family.

It's a church. You have to respect their rules. This isn't about you.

When I asked him later whether he agreed with the stuff the preacher had said, he just shook it off by saying the preacher "doesn't sugarcoat anything to make people feel better about themselves".

Your dad should pray harder. Doubt like that will surely send him clear into the lake of fire. Be sure to remind him of this salient point.

I don't know what to do. It's his choice and I'm not his mother and I have no right to tell him what to do with his life. This thing makes him feel like he has purpose and helps him sleep at night. But how can I sit there and condone this ugly transformation?

Because it's none of your business. Religion. It's PERSONAL. Again, deal with it.

The preacher told a crowd of at least 300 people, while being recorded for TV, that black holes in space are portals to Hell. I'm not fucking joking. He also said that if anyone every broke into his house, he'd feel sorry for him because he has a ninja sword by his bed and would chop their heads off-and then break out his guns.

Makes sense. This shit is important. It works for them, Pineapple. That's what matters. They're happy. It has nothing to do with you.

Should I continue to support these hateful, bigoted ideas that my dad keeps spewing in increasingly large amounts or should I say something and risk our relationship? Aside from his brothers, I am the only one he knows who has supported him in this decision. Even his wife (who is a massive cunt I might add) has flat-out refused to attend church and didn't even go to his baptism.

You should go to his baptism. Support him. Fact is, his beliefs bring him closer to the REAL TRUE GOD. That's what's important. I don't see what your problem is with this. It's personal and you're wrong for judging him.